Take the Train to Shed Some Weight

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A new study shows that commuting to work via train or bicycle, instead ...

A new study shows that commuting to work via train or bicycle, instead of driving, can help you lose more weight in a couple of years.

People who use public transportation take part in a far more active experience than those who drive a car from point A to point B. It takes a couple of years after switching from driving to walking, cycling or using public transportation to shed weight, say the researchers of the study, which was published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

The switch has been linked to an average reduction in the body mass index (BMI).

"Switching from driving to work to using public transport, walking, or cycling might help commuters shed weight within a couple of years," said Adam Martin, health economist at the University of East Anglia's Norwich Medical School in the UK.

Because car use is common, these findings emphasise the case for incentivising walking or cycling to improve public health.

Switching from walking to driving was associated with a weight gain of about 1 kg per person, after taking other factors into account.

"We found that switching from the car to walking, cycling or public transport is associated with an average reduction of 0.32 body mass index (BMI) points, which equates to a difference of about 1 kg for the average person.

"This might sound like a relatively small proportion of their total weight, but we also found that the longer the commute, the stronger the association."

"For those with a commute of more than 30 minutes, there was an average reduction of 2.25 BMI units, or around 7 kg (over one stone) for the average person."

"If a larger proportion of commuters were able to abandon their cars for a more physically active commute, this could help drive down the average population BMI," Martin concluded.